In order to avoid the wide circuit of the Cochrane river, which flows to Reindeer lake from Lake Wollaston, the guides directed Thompson up a stream that emptied from the west a few miles north of his point of pines. From the head of this stream there was a passage by a series of ponds and brooks to the south end of Wollaston lake. But the water was low, and they were forced to carry their packs for the better part of fifty miles, stumbling over the rocks and wading through the marshes, while clouds of mosquitoes buzzed about their defenceless heads. It was a welcome relief when they launched out on the clear and deep waters of Lake Wollaston, which they crossed without trouble to the Black river. Here they made camp on the evening of June 23, and rested while Thompson took observations and made up the notes of his survey. Two days later they were once more under way. Lake Wollaston, as Thompson discovered, was situated on the height of land between the basins of Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie river. Part of its waters discharged eastward and south into Reindeer lake, while part flowed westward through the Black river into Lake Athabaska. From this curious circumstance, the lake was known to the Indians as "Lake Manito," and was considered to be of supernatural character. Entering the Black river, the party passed at first through the quiet reaches of the upper river, in a wretched country of solitude, where the wild laugh of the loon alone woke the echoes of the barren hills. Presently the banks closed in, and as the current stiffened, they had to paddle vigorously to avoid the projecting rocks. Finally an expansion of the stream brought them to Black lake. It was during this stretch that they came upon the only human beings they had so far encountered--five tents of Chepawyans, hunting and fishing in an otherwise deserted land.